Gardeners' Notes:

This plant is not an annual in parts of Northern CA that are considered zones 7-9 (Chico, Paradise, etc). Not sure if this is due to our hot, dry summers and wet winters or some other factor/s. I can remember one specimen that lived well over 10yrs before becoming overly woody and being removed. Over the past winter, temperatures dropped into the teens and water froze in the pipes, but my red flowering variety, which was dug up in December from an apartment and put in a temporary pot outdoors in my new home, did great. It was sitting right next to an outdoor faucet that burst due to the frozen water inside. Now it's planted in the yard right against the foundation of my house and is growing and flowering like crazy. I would not consider this plant "tender" by any means :).

Staple in gardens throughout central and southern CA. In central Ca, they are evergreen and if they are planted in a favorable location, will bloom through the winter. Very easy to propagate. I start new plants every year by just sticking the cuttings where i want them to grow, then in about a month, they begin to leaf out and bloom. They prefer full sun and and seem to not like a lot of water (which makes them rot) so i keep them on the dry side.

I hate to give it a neutral as it was GORGEOUS while it lasted... but it would take extra work for those of us in South FL, where we can get alot of rain. My geraniums did not survive, but I will definitely try them again, maybe if I plant them near the underhangs where they won't get as much water, but there they won't get as much sun! Fool that I am, I will probably purchase them again next year. ;)

An old favourite and with good reason. Pelargonium is a reliable and almost trouble-free annual that offers great colour and texture to the garden. I planted mine in a pot on my patio. Despite it being a hot, windy location, in a summer of drought and grasshopper infestation, it still performed well. Some people have successfully overwintered theirs and had them for years. A lot of people here call them "geraniums" and they are sold under that name, although technically that isn't accurate.

You can get seeds from a geranium by using a very small bristle paintbrush. Dip along the center of the flowers dragging pollen from plant to plant. Seed pods develop quickly. Let them dry out on the parent plant. Your next generation may or may not resemble the parent plants, but who knows what color and look it will have!

A favorite bedding and container plant, this tender perennial is grown as an annual in all but the warmest regions of the U.S. Plants have succulent leaves, which are circular, 2 to 3 inches in diameter and may be disctinctively marked or banded. Flower clusters of small florets arranged in a half sphere, appear throughout summer. Choose from white, pink, magenta, scarlet, lavendar, orange or salmon colors. Grown in average soil, keep regularly watered, especially in the hottest part of summer. Pinch off spent flowers to encourage a new flush of growth.